Happy Accident
by Muggle Jane
Summary: "Deleted scene" from Lost. Luna has a new assignment at the Ministry and Sirius is less than pleased.


**A/N: Taken out of Lost because it didn't fit in the story with it being so close to the end, but I like this chapter. Fits in between chapters 23 and 24.**

I opened the door that now bore the gold nameplate, "L. Malfoy." The tall blond man was in the middle of the room by a dark wooden desk, standing rigidly on a carpet of barely-patient waiting. He looked over as the door opened. "Good morning, Mr. Malfoy," I greeted pleasantly, stepping into the room and letting the door shut firmly behind me.

"Good morning, Mrs. Black," he replied, coolly polite. "I understand congratulations are in order and that you are now a part of," his lips twitched a little as he seemed to search for the right word, "the family."

"Thank you."

"I also understand that you are here to keep an eye on me," he continued, his voice elegant like Sirius' but sharp like a knife and chilled in ice.

"Yes," I replied openly. "I am."

He seemed a little taken aback at my honesty and paused for a moment, watching me with frosty gray eyes. "Mrs. Black, I would like to extend an apology for that _regrettable_ time you spent incarcerated in my cellar."

"It's alright," I said gently. "I wasn't really hurt and I made a very dear friend. I believe I was better off trapped in your basement than I would have been at Hogwarts during that time. I was treated very cruelly at the school." I watched him for a moment. "And then your family's money purchased my house for me; so you see, it all worked out for the best in the end."

The cool look on his face shifted, just slightly, and I could see a glimmer of respect in his eyes. "Yes. That which doesn't kill us just makes us stronger."

I took in the set of his carefully neutral face, the still-haunted tension in his shoulders as he tried to give off the appearance of easiness. "I think both of us have been made stronger by what we went through."

He again looked somewhat taken aback. "You are a very _perceptive_ witch," he observed.

"I expect that's why Kingsley suggested me for this position."

"I expect you're right." He stood there for a moment, watching me. "Has the Minister informed you what will be expected of you?"

"Yes, I believe so." I crossed the room and placed my hand flat on the desk. "This would be my desk, if I'm correct. I'm to assist you as needed."

"Indeed," he replied, shifting to look at me. "Were you advised that there would be international travel?"

I tilted my head slightly to the side as I looked up at him curiously. "I wasn't."

"I anticipate travel to Canada before the end of November. In addition to making the travel arrangements, I will need you to accompany me." His gray eyes narrowed slightly. "I can't imagine your _husband_ will take too kindly to that."

"No," I said honestly. "I don't expect he will. How long do you think the trip will be?"

"A week, two at the outset." He shifted again, and I saw a flash of something move across his face before he schooled it again into mask-like blank perfection. "I understand my wife is staying in your family home."

Narcissa Malfoy had come to the school over the weekend and asked to meet with us. She was in great despair when she asked if she could stay in the townhouse at Grimmauld Place. Sirius had been very surprised to see her and hadn't seemed to know how to answer and so I'd told her yes, and informed her that there were no house elves.

"She is," I replied.

"Is she..." he paused and his shoulders seemed to draw in a little, exposing a thin shadow of vulnerability through the carefully constructed veneer of confidence. "Well?"

"She was very distraught. Her hair came straight down from her head like she didn't have enough happiness to hold it up at all." I looked at him for a long moment. "Like Professor Snape's always was."

His shoulders came back out, broad and squared. "My, you _are_ perceptive." His voice, still polite, had chilled as though it was going to suddenly start dropping snowflakes on the floor. "Quite by accident, I believe you will prove very useful to me in your new position."

* * *

Sirius was not happy with this news. He stared at me when I told him that night after dinner, comfortably situated in our own suite of rooms, then raked his hands through his hair and started pacing about. "Two bloody weeks. Canada! And with that bloody blond bastard! Am I just supposed to forget that you were locked up in his house?"

I watched him range through the room, trailing helpless frustration along in his wake. "He apologized for that, Sirius. He was very polite."

"Of course he was," he thundered, then turned to me, his anger clouding his stormy gray eyes. He looked at me, his eyes moving over my body. "What am I supposed to do without you for two weeks?" His voice was softer now, touched with sorrow.

"Get more sleep?" I suggested.

He stared at me for a moment, then threw his head back and laughed, tension gone in an instant. He came to me and pulled me against him, his fingers combing through my long hair. "I'm not sure it'll work like that, love. I had a devil of a time sleeping without you the night before our wedding, do you remember? I can't imagine two weeks of that."

"It might not be that long," I reminded him, running my hands up his chest until they were resting on his shoulders.

"Knowing Malfoy it will be," he said, and the clouds began to gather again in his eyes. "He always was an arrogant sod. He was a prefect when I was in school and he really enjoyed lording it over the rest of us- especially me and the lads. I can't help but think he's going to delight in taking you away from me for so long."

"He is rather arrogant," I agreed, "but I think he's more concerned with his own wife than he is with yours."

The frown grew and he turned his attention to his fingers moving through my hair. "I spoke with her today. She wished to extend her thanks for allowing her to stay at the townhouse. I didn't know what to say to her. She's changed, love. She hardly seems to know herself anymore."

"That troubles you," I observed quietly, watching him study my hair.

"I don't know what to make of it. I've never had a good relationship with her; I think we quite hated each other in our youth. But now she cares." He considered what he'd said and shook his head. "Not cares about me, not exactly. She is concerned that I am well, and that you and I are happy with each other."

"That's what family does, I believe. I don't have a lot of experience with family of my own. I have my dad, of course, and now you. But when the war was through, Molly and Arthur took me in. When Christmas and Easter holidays came around, I stayed with them and they started looking at me the same way they see Harry and Hermione. Do you remember what happened with Percy?"

His eyes came back to mine. "Yes. He was a prat."

"Yes, and if you've noticed, his younger siblings especially still aren't too fond of him. But, when everything was getting sorted out at the Ministry, his loyalty was called into question. Every one of his family stood up for him. All of them. Ginny and Ron especially don't like him, but they do care what happens to him." I peered up into his eyes. "You and Narcissa may not be fond of each other, but you do care what happens to her, or you would have told her no before I told her yes."

He considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "I wish my brother hadn't died." His gray eyes grew regretful and the small space between us filled with unease. "He was so young and it seemed that just as he was becoming a man, he was turning into someone I might have been able to... To care what happened to. Or," he added, freeing his fingers from my hair to rake through his own, "maybe even someone I could have gotten along with."

"Kreacher still works here, you know. If there's anyone to talk about your brother with, it would be him. You may want to start with an apology, though."

"An apology?" Sirius seemed rather taken aback at the suggestion.

"Yes," I replied. "I've heard that you were very unkind to him. He led the house elves against Voldemort's army at the end, did you know?"

He leaned forward and gave me a gentle kiss. "You are very wise, as always, my love. Perhaps I will at that. After all, I am going to have to find something to do to fill the time while you're away." He shook his head. "Canada!"


End file.
